Forms featuring detachable components are manufactured in commercial printing plants using printing presses and finishing equipment. Currently, forms such as snap-apart forms, two- and three-level forms having areas for imprinting using a typewriter or manually writing thereon, labels, and business cards are available for purchase by consumers in packs. Such printable forms include customizable spaces onto which a user may print text or images chosen by the user. The forms typically feature a plurality of identically sized and shaped detachable components. Printing or imprinting on the customizable spaces of conventional forms may be accomplished using a desktop printer or any other printing device of the appropriate size and feed capability.
Conventional greeting cards are sold or distributed as individual units or in packs of identical or varying cards at retail locations and websites. Such greeting cards are generally not customizable by the user with the exception of some blank spaces on interior surfaces of the greeting card that may be reserved by the manufacturer to permit the purchasing user to write a message or to include any other printed or typically handwritten text, image, or symbol desired to be transmitted to a recipient. Exterior surfaces, and particularly the front exterior surface, of such greeting cards almost always include artwork, symbols, images, or text printed thereon by the manufacturer, and leave little or no space for user customizations. Forms featuring a single component such as a greeting card have also been available in commerce for imprinting thereon by a consumer using a desktop printer. Such printable and imprintable forms often are packaged with a separate envelope on which the consumer may imprint or write addresses and affix postage.
As the consumer market moved away from the use of cash, direct debit and credit became popular payment alternatives, gift cards came into common usage. Gift certificates have been used in place of cash when consumers have desired to give a gift that could be used by a recipient user to purchase goods or services. Gift cards have rapidly replaced gift certificates as the dominant means of gift giving either in the form of cash credit, a specific good, or a specific service. Gift cards are preferable over the use of gift certificates because, unlike gift certificates, conventional plastic gift cards include magnetic stripes onto which data can be encoded, e.g., the amount of funds contributed by the giftor, the gift (i.e., good or service) selected by the giftor, the giftor's personal information, the giftee's personal information, and the bank, store, or manufacturer's information. Gift cards were also preferred over gift certificates because, being the size of a credit card or debit card, they can fit into a smaller area such as a wallet. Gift cards were also viewed as advantageous over gift certificates because of the security features and point-of-sale transaction entry capabilities included in the magnetic encoding of the gift cards.
Conventional gift cards are purchased or obtained at a retail location such as a store or website, and include pre-printed graphics and text printed thereon by the manufacturer or issuer of the gift card. Such pre-printed gift cards do not permit the purchaser (i.e., the giftor) to customize the gift card prior to its delivery to a recipient (i.e., the giftee).
Greeting cards and envelopes can also be purchased or acquired from an on-line service. Greeting cards generated by on-line services may allow the user to make limited personalization and customization of a card by selecting themes, images and messages from a library of such content. In some instances, the on-line service may permit the user to upload photographs for additional customization. Such on-line service generated greeting cards generally do not have the ability to attach a gift card, nor do they include detachable sections that can be used for another purpose upon receipt by the recipient.
Gift cards and greeting cards, in addition to envelopes, have not been previously provided in a combined multi-purpose imprintable format having detachable components so that a consumer or end user can obtain the multi-purpose form that may include one or more sheets and, using a desktop printer or other printing device, imprint thereon certain customized text, images, or symbols selected by the user.